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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27394270">Penance</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/pocket_infinity/pseuds/pocket_infinity'>pocket_infinity</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>King's Fall [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Hollow Knight (Video Games)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Gen, Gore, Heavy Angst, Hurt No Comfort, Self-Harm, Self-Mutilation, but it's flashbacks so i dont count that, but there is some not-so-fun stuff in store for pk, idk it's not quite gore, there are technically other characters</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 20:14:38</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>921</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27394270</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/pocket_infinity/pseuds/pocket_infinity</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Even a king is subject to the laws of his kingdom. Even a king is not beyond punishment. Even a king must still pay penance.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>King's Fall [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2017610</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>63</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Penance</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>listen writer's block is a bitch but here's some Stuff for y'all to enjoy</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The wyrm stared at the pair of shears on the table in front of him, robes lying in a pile at his feet. With all the ambient void built up in his workshop, it might as well have been just him, the table, and those shears, honestly. But he stared. And stared. And stared. He and his reward, locked in a staring contest with each other in a pitch black room until he finally caved and, with a sigh, planted his upper arms on the table. One of the lower ones snatched the shears from the table, and he took a long, slow breath.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hallownest was a land of law; he’d made sure of that, made sure that there would be no person exempt from justice… not even himself. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a preexisting set of laws for nearly </span>
  <em>
    <span>anything</span>
  </em>
  <span> he’d done, leaving him as the sole judge, jury, and executioner for his own crimes. If nothing else, at least he was </span>
  <em>
    <span>trying</span>
  </em>
  <span> to do right by his kingdom and its laws.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Another breath. He could do it. He was strong. He was a wyrm. He was a king. He was </span>
  <em>
    <span>the</span>
  </em>
  <span> king, the Pale King, ruler of Hallownest and conqueror of the Radiance; he could administer one </span>
  <em>
    <span>simple, merciful</span>
  </em>
  <span> punishment. It was just a matter of nerves. He kicked his robes away—there was no reason to dirty them, after all—and raised the shears in front of his face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>If not for the complete silence, he wouldn’t have been able to hear the sliding of the blades as he closed and opened them. He narrowed his eyes at the ink-black edge of both blades, watching the ever so slow drip of void as he did another slow snip. Permanence, in some capacity, was necessary for any true punishment. His was no different.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A third breath, and he slipped his hand behind his back, the tool in it beginning to shake with his arm.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It would be painless, he reminded himself. A quick snip, and that was all.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Still, though… it was permanent. Forever. Just… gone.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He deserved it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He did, but…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He did, and there wasn’t any point in trying to avoid it. All who break the law must pay their due. He flattened the back of his hand against his back, letting his eyes fall closed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>--</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m leaving Hallownest this evening,” Quirrel had said, staring at the Teacher in her acid tank. “I don’t think I’ll be back.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good… good luck to you, then,” he’d replied.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>--</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He slid the shears up his back, letting out a shuddering breath at the chill.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>--</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“M-my King…” the Watcher said, “before I go, I need to say it at least once… I love you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>--</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He paused, swallowing a knot in his throat as the blades met the base of his wings.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Just there now, he said to himself, tilt them in a little more. You’re trying to get the whole thing, remember?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>--</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I </span>
  <em>
    <span>did</span>
  </em>
  <span> warn you, in all fairness, little king. The cycle will complete itself, no matter who tries to do what. There’s no point in fighting the tide.” The spectre vanished with a puff of red smoke.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>--</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It will be quick. It will be painless.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>--</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Love you?” His daughter’s voice boomed. “</span>
  <em>
    <span>Love</span>
  </em>
  <span> you?! I </span>
  <em>
    <span>hate</span>
  </em>
  <span> you—with all my heart and all my soul and all my mind, I </span>
  <em>
    <span>hate</span>
  </em>
  <span> you! You—you </span>
  <em>
    <span>murdered</span>
  </em>
  <span> my </span>
  <em>
    <span>mother,</span>
  </em>
  <span> where the hell do you get the </span>
  <em>
    <span>gall</span>
  </em>
  <span> to ask if I love you?!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>--</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s simply a matter of action, so do it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>--</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll be honest, wyrm, just this once: the lack of care you seem to show, the lack of remorse for what we’ve done, for the thousands of corpses below our kingdom… I find it repulsive.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>--</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Now.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>--</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The Hollow Knight rested suspended in its chains before him, twitching and shaking against the orange glow filling its eyes as he backed away, step by step, from the last piece of refuse and regret.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>--</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Time to pay penance.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He squeezed his hand shut, and the wings snapped off like the fine threads they were. For a brief moment, it was almost like what he’d promised himself: a small price and nothing more. It came crashing down in a wave he could never be ready for, a tearing, searing pain splitting up and down the center of his back first before spreading through the rest of it, all the way to the shoulder joints. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He let out a scream, slightly quieted, at first, as he fell forward onto the table, shears clattering to the ground behind him. When he finally ran out of air to howl, his breaths were rapid, unsure, unsteady, even as he let out another agonized cry. He could hear it </span>
  <em>
    <span>bubbling,</span>
  </em>
  <span> was the worst part, could hear the void chewing away at his light as it sealed the wound permanently. Dark spots flickered in front of his eyes as tears began to prick within them, intercepting what little light he still produced.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>One of his hands scrambled to touch his back on impulse, only causing a full reinvigoration of his current state, and his legs finally gave out. He tumbled to the ground, pale mask slamming into dark stone as his voice finally ran raw, and he came to stare at the set of six pale, translucent wings in front of him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His whole figure spasmed, breathing accelerating as he stared until his body gave up, forcibly sealing his eyes shut and slowing his breathing as he dropped out of consciousness. </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>:)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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